I thought of your comment, Myles, when I was voting this year. Though I like The Bear, it ain't a comedy, so I voted for Hacks. What a pleasant surprise to see it win tonight. Another contributing factor, I think, is that the industry didn't *like* The Bear season 3. Yes, there were good performances, but the story criticism was pretty scathing. I will be very curious how the awards go next time around and whether season 4 airing will affect people's memory of how much they did not enjoy this season.
Jodie Foster is a huge star, of course, but I'd contend that her performance was by far the best in her category, stardom aside.
I'm not sure if people generally realize it, but peer group awards are only voted on by members of that group. (Actors vote for actors, directors for directors, writers for writers, etc.) Whenever there's a weird outlier in an acting category, I tend to think it's because that actor has very good peer relationships. So seeing Crudup win for a show nobody watches, my assumption is that his fellow actors like him. I suspect the actor awards would be a bit different if they were voted on by everyone, like the Best Show categories, but that's not how it works. And hey, every once in a while it gives you a Tatiana Maslany win, so that's something.
I'm okay with The Bear losing, though I'd rather have seen an unlikely underdog like Rez Dogs or Only Murders win. I'm not a fan of Hacks. I want to be hopeful that the Academy could move on to another comedy series next year. Ever since Schitt's 2020 sweep, only 4 shows have won a big comedy Emmy (Series, Lead/Sup Acting, Writing, Directing... and Casting too) -- The Bear, Hacks, Ted Lasso, and Abbott Elementary. That spans 32 categories. If you include guest performances, bump it up to 40 categories and add Poker Face, Only Murders, and SNL. I wish the Academy could embrace new blood quicker. (The writers branch often has 1 or 2 off-the-beaten-path noms that I appreciate.) I think Abbott's and WWDITS' ships have sailed. I prefer to believe Only Murders can still pull off a big win. Poker Face, too.
I immediately assumed Slow Horses' writing win was a split vote, perhaps Shogun shot itself with 2 nominations. I surmise that split voting also led to Lamorne Morris' (Jonathan Bailey v Robert Downey Jr.) and maybe Billy Crudup's wins. Liza Colón-Zayas' win aligns with The Bear winning 5 of 6 performance Emmys this year, and I fully agree that the show's wins are a reflection of season 3, not 2. But I can't help but wonder if Hannah and Meryl split the vote.
Next year should have Slow Horses, The Last of Us, Yellowjackets, House of the Dragon, Andor, Squid Game, Bad Sisters, and Severance vying for the non-White Lotus slots -- and hopefully pushing The Morning Show out. I'm curious to see which can still make an Emmys mark. I don't expect The Handmaid's Tale to do much, if anything.
Not that this was the headline, but there’s something deeply amusing about the Emmys moving Last Week Tonight and one-night-a-week host John Oliver out of Outstanding Talk Series so someone else could finally win… only to give the award right back to one-night-a-week host Jon Stewart.
I was surprised (but pleased! I voted for it) for the Hacks win, but no one seemed more surprised than Paul C. Downs. Good for him!
Happy to have seen Greg Berlanti win the Governor's Award - I didn't know it was happening but was pleased to see it, and his speech made me tear up. Plus the look on Joshua Jackson's face when "I Don't Wanna Wait" started playing was definitely the highlight of the night for me.
Asano and Einbinder would have also been my picks to win, but I was okay with the acting wins overall. If Anna Sawai didn't win I was going to riot. I'm not sure I've ever seen a better performance in a series.
Shōgun and Hacks were the two best shows I saw this year, so I'm glad they both won some awards, even though I think Asano and Einbinder should've won too.
(I was gonna look at shows from last year to see if any of my favorites were Emmy-eligible, but none of them had a real shot. Zero nominations for I'm a Virgo or The Curse. The Righteous Gemstones got nominated for minor awards in costuming and stunts and didn't win any. Apparently nothing Danny McBride and Jody Hill make is ever going to win an award.)
I thought of your comment, Myles, when I was voting this year. Though I like The Bear, it ain't a comedy, so I voted for Hacks. What a pleasant surprise to see it win tonight. Another contributing factor, I think, is that the industry didn't *like* The Bear season 3. Yes, there were good performances, but the story criticism was pretty scathing. I will be very curious how the awards go next time around and whether season 4 airing will affect people's memory of how much they did not enjoy this season.
Jodie Foster is a huge star, of course, but I'd contend that her performance was by far the best in her category, stardom aside.
I'm not sure if people generally realize it, but peer group awards are only voted on by members of that group. (Actors vote for actors, directors for directors, writers for writers, etc.) Whenever there's a weird outlier in an acting category, I tend to think it's because that actor has very good peer relationships. So seeing Crudup win for a show nobody watches, my assumption is that his fellow actors like him. I suspect the actor awards would be a bit different if they were voted on by everyone, like the Best Show categories, but that's not how it works. And hey, every once in a while it gives you a Tatiana Maslany win, so that's something.
Yeah, the peer group thing is always worth noting, and helps explain the writing/directing splits.
I'm okay with The Bear losing, though I'd rather have seen an unlikely underdog like Rez Dogs or Only Murders win. I'm not a fan of Hacks. I want to be hopeful that the Academy could move on to another comedy series next year. Ever since Schitt's 2020 sweep, only 4 shows have won a big comedy Emmy (Series, Lead/Sup Acting, Writing, Directing... and Casting too) -- The Bear, Hacks, Ted Lasso, and Abbott Elementary. That spans 32 categories. If you include guest performances, bump it up to 40 categories and add Poker Face, Only Murders, and SNL. I wish the Academy could embrace new blood quicker. (The writers branch often has 1 or 2 off-the-beaten-path noms that I appreciate.) I think Abbott's and WWDITS' ships have sailed. I prefer to believe Only Murders can still pull off a big win. Poker Face, too.
I immediately assumed Slow Horses' writing win was a split vote, perhaps Shogun shot itself with 2 nominations. I surmise that split voting also led to Lamorne Morris' (Jonathan Bailey v Robert Downey Jr.) and maybe Billy Crudup's wins. Liza Colón-Zayas' win aligns with The Bear winning 5 of 6 performance Emmys this year, and I fully agree that the show's wins are a reflection of season 3, not 2. But I can't help but wonder if Hannah and Meryl split the vote.
Next year should have Slow Horses, The Last of Us, Yellowjackets, House of the Dragon, Andor, Squid Game, Bad Sisters, and Severance vying for the non-White Lotus slots -- and hopefully pushing The Morning Show out. I'm curious to see which can still make an Emmys mark. I don't expect The Handmaid's Tale to do much, if anything.
Winnie the Bish, Emmy winner! The sheer joy this brings me!
Not that this was the headline, but there’s something deeply amusing about the Emmys moving Last Week Tonight and one-night-a-week host John Oliver out of Outstanding Talk Series so someone else could finally win… only to give the award right back to one-night-a-week host Jon Stewart.
Was really hoping to see Hannah Einbinder win! Thought she was so funny this past season
I was surprised (but pleased! I voted for it) for the Hacks win, but no one seemed more surprised than Paul C. Downs. Good for him!
Happy to have seen Greg Berlanti win the Governor's Award - I didn't know it was happening but was pleased to see it, and his speech made me tear up. Plus the look on Joshua Jackson's face when "I Don't Wanna Wait" started playing was definitely the highlight of the night for me.
Asano and Einbinder would have also been my picks to win, but I was okay with the acting wins overall. If Anna Sawai didn't win I was going to riot. I'm not sure I've ever seen a better performance in a series.
Shōgun and Hacks were the two best shows I saw this year, so I'm glad they both won some awards, even though I think Asano and Einbinder should've won too.
(I was gonna look at shows from last year to see if any of my favorites were Emmy-eligible, but none of them had a real shot. Zero nominations for I'm a Virgo or The Curse. The Righteous Gemstones got nominated for minor awards in costuming and stunts and didn't win any. Apparently nothing Danny McBride and Jody Hill make is ever going to win an award.)
I can’t believe you brought up the Cancel Bear in the subheading. I haven’t thought about that since pre-COVID…
My boyfriend needed to understand that I live a life where I have gone through numerous online nemeses. Important disclosure.
Felt like this year's Emmys didn't get much hype and I totally forgot they were last night for a while
Dave Becky in the text for Hacks' "The producers would like to thank" chyron is gag-inducing